Defenders Undergoing Image Overhaul

Environmentalists Changing Leaders, Marketing Plans

The McHenry County Defenders, a group of environmental activists formed nearly three decades ago, is embarking on a new marketing strategy to revamp its image and attract new volunteers.

While membership has been steady in recent years, the group says it needs more volunteers to keep up with a booming county, which has brought with it a host of new environmental concerns.

The strategy goes hand-in-hand with the recent announcement that two of the group's leaders have resigned. After six years at the helm, Executive Director Cindy Skrukrud, 43, is leaving because of family reasons and to pursue a more active role in stream water ecology issues.

Recycling coordinator Dave Kozlowski, 41, who has been with the group since 1987, resigned to pursue other environmental opportunities. Andrew Bennett, who ran a recycling program at the University of Minnesota, will replace Kozlowski while the group's board of directors is taking applications for Skrukrud's position. Skrukrud and Kozlowski say they plan to remain active with the Defenders.

"We're looking to replace me with someone who will be much more administrative. We really want to grow the organization," Skrukrud said. "It's kind of stagnated. That's why we feel with the county growing, we should be growing too."

Dwight Dalton, the group's board president, said, "We're hoping the person we hire can get monies that will allow us to hire more personnel."

In addition to beginning a marketing campaign that will involve a new logo, new brochures and a campaign this fall to recruit volunteers, the group hopes to add a full-time assistant to the executive director and buy a building.

The Defenders have three full-time employees, an executive director, recycling director and a membership chairman. The group rents office space on Woodstock Square and has a recycling site on McConnell Road in Woodstock.

The volunteer membership has risen from 560 households in 1997 to 613 as of May but not as much growth as the group desires.

"While we're embarking on ambitious plans to expand the organization, I don't have any worries that we will disappear," Skrukrud said. "We have a real solid foundation and that foundation has evolved from how we first came together as an organization."

The Defenders arose from two 1969 groups--the Defenders of the Fox, a group fighting against a proposed Fox Valley freeway, and the McHenry County Environmental Council, a group dedicated to environmental education.

The McHenry County Defenders was formed a year later and got its not-for-profit charter in 1971. The group has attacked a host of environmental issues in McHenry County, such as landfills, gravel pits, freeways, oil pipelines, power plants and sprawl. It has a $250,000 budget and recycles nearly 1,000 tons of waste material annually.

"One of the reasons we are looking for more members is because we are dealing with more environmental concerns," said treasurer Betty Sterling. "We'd like to find solutions to sprawl, water problems and potential groundwater contaminations."

Dalton admitted the group's board members were "concerned when we learned that these two people" were leaving. And Skrukrud said, "I think we are all a little nervous about the changes."

With a small staff, Kozlowski said 60-hour work weeks were typical. Change, he said, will be good for the group.

"I think overall, it will be good for the organization to get some new blood," Kozlowski said. "Blood gets tired, and I have tired blood."